Professor Nicholas Race

Professor of Networked Systems

Profile

Nicholas Race is Professor of Networked Systems at Lancaster University. His research focuses on developing future networking services built upon Software Defined Networks and Network Functions Virtualisation. This includes new techniques to enhance the Quality of Experience of media streaming and support for the detection and remediation of network anomalies. He leads NG-CDI - a EPSRC/BT funded project that aims to develop a future network that is “autonomic”, with the capability to react and reconfigure infrastructure accordingly with minimal human intervention.

Research Overview

My research area is focused on the use of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) for a range of new networking services, with a particular emphasis on the benefits to security, monitoring and media distribution.

The application of SDN for security builds upon my previous work in developing lightweight intrusion detection mechanisms and security monitoring for Wireless Mesh Networks. In particular, recent research considers new approaches to security detection and remediation that have been made possible through the introduction of Software Defined Networking. My current work investigates how the combination of multi-stage monitoring techniques alongside SDN allows for the dynamic provisioning of resources in response to evolving monitoring conditions. Notably, our work in this area has led to the TENNISON framework which has recently been published and released as open-source software for the benefit of the security community.

I am the principal investigator of NG-CDI, an EPSRC/BT funded Prosperity Partnership. I am also the principal investigator at Lancaster of 5GRIT & INITIATE, and co-investigator of the EPSRC TOUCAN Programme Grant. Previously I was the principal investigator at Lancaster of the MPAT, FI-CONTENT2, STEER, GN3plus, Fed4FIRE, OFELIA and P2P-Next EU projects.